| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pericles by William Shakespeare: Those palates who, not yet two sumMers younger,
Must have inventions to delight the taste,
Would now be glad of bread, and beg for it:
Those mothers who, to nousle up their babes,
Thought nought too curious, are ready now
To eat those little darlings whom they loved.
So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife
Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life:
Here stands a lord, and there a lady weeping;
Here many sink, yet those which see them fall
Have scarce strength left to give them burial.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: He was trying to tell the stupid white man to plunge his
poisoned arrows into Sabor's back and sides, and to reach the
savage heart with the long, thin hunting knife that hung at
Tarzan's hip; but the man would not understand, and Tarzan
did not dare release his hold to do the things himself, for he
knew that the puny white man never could hold mighty
Sabor alone, for an instant.
Slowly the lioness was emerging from the window. At last
her shoulders were out.
And then Clayton saw an incredible thing. Tarzan, racking
his brains for some means to cope single-handed with the
Tarzan of the Apes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: breathe, but it prevents us from roasting."
"Yes!" said Nicholl, "unfortunately, it will not be the same in
the moon."
"Bah!" said Michel, always hopeful. "If there are inhabitants,
they must breathe. If there are no longer any, they must have
left enough oxygen for three people, if only at the bottom of
ravines, where its own weight will cause it to accumulate, and
we will not climb the mountains; that is all." And Michel,
rising, went to look at the lunar disc, which shone with
intolerable brilliancy.
"By Jove!" said he, "it must be hot up there!"
From the Earth to the Moon |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: the same dull expression as that of the man with the raised brows
and pouting lips whom he had seen at the window of the
eating-house.
"How cold it is! Is it not? Have you got the parcels?" said
Schonbock, turning to the isvostchik.
"All right. Good-bye. I am very glad indeed to have met you," and
warmly pressing Nekhludoff's hand, he jumped into the trap and
waved his white-gloved hand in front of his shiny face, with his
usual smile, showing his exceptionally white teeth.
"Can I have also been like that?" Nekhludoff thought, as he
continued his way to the advocate's. "Yes, I wished to be like
Resurrection |
